2017 data indicate a growing preference for annual say-on-pay frequency recommendations and adoptions, although possible future legislation could alter the course of this trend.

In January 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rule requiring public companies to conduct a shareholder vote every six years to determine how often a company should hold a say-on-pay vote. The choices were: every year, every other year or every three years. The process was labeled as the “say-on-frequency vote.”

Data show that in 2011, companies that recommended annual and triennial frequencies each represented sizeable portions of all public companies queried. In 2017, we observe that far more companies are recommending an annual frequency compared with 2011.

Read our new Executive Compensation Bulletin for more details of say-on-pay frequency votes by clicking on “DOWNLOAD PDF” above or below.